CBS This Morning

GOP Rep: "We got whooped" on "fiscal cliff"

(CBS News) Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) said today on "CBS This Morning" that the GOP "got whooped" in the "fiscal cliff" compromise that passed the House last night, but explained that he voted for the deal regardless because "If there was no deal, taxes would have gone up on every American."

LaTourette, a moderate Republican who is retiring from Congress this week, had quipped before the House vote that the GOP Senators who negotiated the deal in the early hours of 2013 "must have been drunk."

"Nothing good happens after midnight on New Years Eve," joked LaTourette.

Despite the harsh words, the Ohio representative voted for the eventual compromise - but that doesn't mean he's happy about it.

"It's worse than that," he argued, noting that the deal not only doesn't cut spending, it actually increases spending in several provisions.

"It's outrageous" that "no one will make the difficult decisions necessary" for comprehensive deficit reduction, said LaTourette. "You really have to come to grips with some of these programs that have been around since the Great Depression and figure out how to make them viable and sustainable" going forward.

Still, LaTourette did not buy the argument that Boehner would have been better off accepting President Obama's first "fiscal cliff" offer, which included spending cuts in addition to revenue enhancements.

"The president was never serious about spending cuts," he said.

LaTourette also blasted the House's decision to adjourn before passing a Superstorm Sandy relief package, calling the members who objected to speedy passage "chuckleheads."

"I guess they don't have TVs in their homes and they haven't seen the suffering in Staten Island and New Jersey," said LaTourette, calling the delay "another example of people just not getting it."

To watch the full interview with Rep. LaTourette, click on the video player above.